


So, it's a Dragon, a Banshee and a Mage in a citadel...

by Septumbra



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Dragons, F/F, Multi, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, WotLK AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:41:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22258144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Septumbra/pseuds/Septumbra
Summary: Jaina did not know exactly what she was seeking when she made her decision to infiltrate Arthas' fortress. Explanations ? Redemption ? Closure ?In any case, it certainly wasn't the Banshee Queen and an insane Dragon.Three people with more in common than they thought, really meeting for the first time.- A great deal of AU, but I try to maintain a certain coherence with the base game. The dragons and Sylvanas are the more heavily modified, I think.-
Relationships: Jaina Proudmoore/Original Female Character(s), Jaina Proudmoore/Sylvanas Windrunner, Jaina Proudmoore/Sylvanas Windrunner/Original Female Character(s), Sylvanas Windrunner/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all ! I was playing around with ideas while reading other stories on this site and decided to try my hand with this one, hope you like it.
> 
> Do not hesitate to give me your thoughts on it, and to point my faults, be it in my writing (I'm sure there are some, I'm not a native speaker) or my storytelling !
> 
> See you !

_The air was positively freezing, especially this high in the sky, but the impressive beast hovering in the night sky was entirely too giddy, a mad-looking grin showing wide on its maw, revealing sharp fangs._

_Oh, the situation it found itself in was not good by any means. Quite the oposite. No allies, most of its family wiped out of the face of the world, reduced to a spattering of flightsmates, a brother too young to really understand the situation and think for himself and a guilt-drowned father loosing his mind a little more day by day._

_It had been a good plan, a nescessary one even, and the big light blue dragon had almost managed it. The most difficult part was even out of the way ! It had the most control over magic anyone who was not its father could ever hope to gain, had delved deep enough to truly feel it, to fuse with it, to breathe it ! But of course people were not going to just let it complete its plan, even if its ultimate goal was one they agreed with._

_But it could work with that. Use it, even. Where some would see an obstacle, a wall, it only saw opportunity._

_It grinned wider still. Necromancy was perhaps not the best way to rebuild the Blue Dragonflight, but it was the only one available at this point. Malygos was losing himself in despair, Sindragosa had simply disappeared decades earlier, when the Traitor played with their lives -most probably dead, with most of the blues- and little Kalecgos was way too young to be burdened with any more things than he already was._

_No, that only left Hildagosa. No one else that was in any position to help cared enough, and she simply did not trust in the vague reassurances of the red bitch currently leading the sea of drakes in front of her._

_Oh, it was the end of the course, that was plain to see. The only things on her side were some dozens of mindless drakes she raised, as test subjects after her initial experiments on herself proved succesful enough to make the whole plan look realistic. Those wouldn't be good for anything here, so she gave them other things to do beforehand. She would make the reds work for it all on her own. Remind them why the Blues were the really powerful ones, why Neltharion felt the need to wipe them first and foremost, and that she was the second most feared amongst their brood, nowadays._

* * *

~~**SaDaBaM**~~

* * *

  
When the first adventurers reported a breach in its defences that could be exploited, infiltrating the Citadel of her torturer/murderer was a decision Sylvanas made without really thinking. It was not a rare occurence for her with matters pertaining to the Lich King, but even without planning the break in, she managed to enter and navigate the place with mindblowing ease.

Until she came nose to nose with Jaina Proudmoore at a crossroad. A very twitchy Jaina Proudmoore, judging by the spike of ice currently piercing the wall behind her. A spike she only managed to dodge because of her undead reflexes.  
"Good evening to you too, Proudmoore," she drawled with an impassive expression, allowing all the sarcasm she could will herself to currently feel to seep into her words.

It was incredidly satisfying to see the mage wince and hide a little more into the collar of the very heavy-looking robes she had donned for her impromptu visit to her lost paramour at the Banshee's echoing voice. And she couldn't help the smirk on her lips as Jaina fought to keep the light tremor from her voice when she answered.

"It is anything but. And I did not think that I would meet anyone ..." To her credit, she only hesitated a little bit before coming to a decision. "friendly, in this place. So, hum, sorry."

"I did not think I would meet anyone here at all." Sylvanas didn't even aknowledge the apology. But what she said was true. She highly doubted that she would just stumble onto people in this place. The few adventurers that actually returned in good enough health to report the breach of the Citadel to her had only spoken of undead. 

Hordes of undead.

And so far she hadn't seen any but herself. And she had lived long enough, even before her death, to know something was amiss if a mage managed to come this deep into enemy territory dressed like she was ready to go skying.

"You haven't seen any Scourge either, have you ?" The mage phrased it as a question, but the look Proudmoore gave her told the Banshee that she was thinking along the same line. She liked Proudmoore well enough since all that farce in Undercity, she was quick witted and decisive when it mattered.

"Intriguing, isn't it ?" The smirk could almost be heard in her voice now. If something was wrong in Arthas' fortress, it was more than worth her attention.

The human, on the other hand, was frowning at her. As if she could see where this was going and wasn't too pleased with that. "Then being here is not a good idea, if that's the case. That could be a trap."

Sylvanas was pretty sure that that was what Nathanos would have said too. Humans were awfully boring that way. But she knew how to play them, if she wanted.

Did she though ? She could let the girl go her way, but it was both dangerous for the mage -and she still owed her for stopping her fool of a king from starting another war in her throne room after they put down Varimathras' little rebellion- and she had a feeling in her gut that they were there for something more than a little bit of scouting or sightseeing. Proudmoore had history with the man-child lording over this fortress too, after all.

Smirking openly, she let her eyes burn brighter in a wordless challenge. "Afraid, Pourdmoore ?"

"Cautious, Banshee."

Sylvanas let her fangs show, she was thoroughly amused at the look of defiance that was beginning to appear of the girl's face. It was such a shame undeath had transformed Nathanos into a wipped dog, humans were such fun to rile up. "Is that what you humans call it these days ? Sounds like a lame excuse to me."

She really couldn't help her the obviously amused chuckle that escaped her when the mage briskly walked past her -and deeper into the citadel- with a huff of indignation.

Yes, she liked the mage, and she would be delighted to watch the eventual reunion between her and her forlorn lover.

Before she put an arrow to Arthas' head, anyway.

* * *

~~**SaDaBaM**~~

* * *

  
_The grin hadn't left Hildagosa's face since the beginning of the little showdown. She knew she was going to lose, and the red bitch was in a right vengeful mood right now, so her propects weren't very good. She wanted to go all out right at the beginning to piss the bitch the most. Maybe wiping enough of her brood would make her fall off her little throne ?_

_Even if not, it would be funny anyway. Battles were always so much fun._

_The swarm of red flying in front of her, she constated after a little while, was just composed of the mindless drakes that swarmed Higher Dragons like herself and the big red one on the other side of the valley at all time. Of course the self proclaimed "queen" of the dragons wouldn't risk her actual kin in a battle with an natural fighter._

_But that wouldn't ruin Hildagosa's fun._

_Just change the game she was going to play._

_It just went from a desperate battle to a show of power and annihilation as she let loose her considerable magic in the air as soon as they tried to surround her, completely drowning the surroundings in pale blue hues. Contrary to popular belief, Dragons, high or low, didn't fly via their wings. They helped, of course, but they were simply too heavy to remain airborne the natural way like a bird. They used magic to help._

_Magic she just nullified for a brief time by drowning it with her own._

_The laugh that escaped her troath was positively wicked when she saw hordes of mindless little drakes crash to the ground, completely shocked. She straightened herself after letting them freefall for some seconds, then gathered her magic in herself again. Willing arcane bolt to obliterate a hundred or so helpless falling targets was not hard by any means._

_That trick was new, she was pretty sure she was the first to actually try it, but it would probably not work on the big -bigger than herself- dragon currently screeching on the other side of the valley._

_No dout her highness was red with anger at the sight of the hundred or so little pets she dragged all the way over this frozen wasteland to pick a fight litterally exploding mid-air. Though if it was at the death of them or the fact that she would have to work for her little crusade, the pale blue dragon oposite her had no clue._

_Hildagosa let out a snicker before opening her mouth wide, revealing pointed teeth and a deep blue tongue pierced with dark metal rods, inspiring so much her throat inflated, throwing her head back. When she couldn't gather anymore power, she let it loose with a mighty roar in the direction of her still apparently shocked oponent._

_The sound she emitted made the earth miles under her tremble, and the beam of white energy launching from her mouth was brigth enough that it looked like the day just came._

_It missed, however. The enormous red dragon somersaulted in obvious suprise, putting as much distance between the ray of energy and her as she could before it impacted with the ground._

_The impact was tremendous, and the crater it left in the earth was big enough it would, maybe, in time become a lake._

_She was interrupted in her contemplation of her power by a roar from the red dragon, a red beam launching at her at high speed. She had just enough time to fire one of own -altough way less powerful than the last- to counter it. The shockwave caused by the meeting of the blasts send both dragons back._

_No retreat now._

* * *

~~**SaDaBaM**~~

* * *

  
It took them a while to find the first real proofs that something was wrong, Sylvanas and her. And wasn't just that thought startling. Sylvanas and her, as if they were a group. Varian would kill her if he knew.

Sylvanas Windrunner, the one thousands of free undead -because Jaina made the distinction at least in the privacy of her mind, contrary to most of everyone else- called the Dark lady with a sort of reverence habitually reserved for a deity, as if she was some sort of god watching over and walking among them for the sole purpose of giving them her blessings. 

The one that had her people create a light-forsaken blight to use in war -even if Jaina knew in her mind that the Banshee wasn't the one to order its use at the wargate. 

The one that irritated Arthas to the point he raised her into a brand new type of monster just to make her pay -and that was only what Jaina had learned, maybe that wasn't all he did. It most certainly wasn't.

The one that managed to wrestle her mind back to herself all on her own, and then went on to liberate countless others, ending up leading them.

Oh, and she was also Vereesa's sister. The one Vereesa pointedly avoided talking about.

So that Sylvanas, and her. Jaina Proudmoore. The one that fled Lordearon as soon as she could.

The one that betrayed even her own father because she "didn't want to fight".

The past lover of the Lich King. The one that did not stop him before he could do real evil.

That Jaina Proudmoore. The Mage was sure Sylvanas wanted nothing more than to kill her. But instead of that, they somehow teamed up in this horrid place, filled with ice and death. Nobody really taking point, walking side by side with only a few feet between the two women, either because neither trusted the other or because they simply didn't know wether to watch the front or the back for danger.

They walked like that, in silence and with eerie blue light emanating from the icy walls as only source of lighting, for what Jaina could swear were several hours but were more probably only forty minutes or so, before Sylvanas abruptly stopped, extending her gauntlet-clad hand in front of the mage to stop her wordlessly.

Jaina obeyed instantly. She didn't see anything ahead but she was not a fool, and she had been around elves long enough to know they saw farther and better in the darkness than she could hope to. So instead of trying to see whatever had the elf hesitating, she focused on said elf. She hadn't had a close look at the Banshee Queen before tonight, and she hadn't wanted earlier because Sylvanas would have caught her staring, but now ? She was focused elsewere. So Jaina stared a little.

Up close, the undead elf was not very tall or bulky for someone usually so imposing. She barely reached Jaina's heigh -which was admittedly on the tall side for a human woman, but nothing crazy- and looking down, the mage realised that somehow, the elf had made all the treck here with uncany grace all the while wearing sinfully high heels. 

Armored boots with heels. A leftover from her High elven days, or a Windrunner specialty, since Jaina recalled Vereesa running around in something similar quite often. Except those ones were colored in shades of purple and black, with sharper angles than elven standards. In fact, the entirety of the Dark Lady's outfit was in shade of purple and black leather. The armored boots, the way-too-thight-to-be-comfortable leggings, the leather doublet, the clawed gauntlets, the cape and hood, from which pierced and sickly white ears sprouted thanks to slits cut in the purple fabric, the only pieces of skin Jaina could actually see, since the hood made a masterful job at obscuring her face just enough that the fine details could not be seen but her global expression was somehow obvious. Even her quiver and the feathers on her arrows were purple. The only reason her bow wasn't in on her obvious color scheme seemed to be because it was made of bones.

She didn't have the now iconic shoulderpads decorated with cranes that she seemingly always wore tonight, Jaina realised, which was probably why the undead at her side looked way less imposing.

But not less intimidating, the mage thought with a start when she realised glowing red orbs were peering at her from under the hood, the Banshee's face totaly blank. Jaina floundered for an excuse for her obvious staring, but the undead just inclined her head to the side, wordlessly indicating that they should move closer to whatever she saw before walking ahead of the human. 

If she caught the mage staring at all, she didn't say anything, and Jaina was left staring after the undead for a moment before she huried to catch up, only to totaly freeze at the sight before them when it became clear to her.

There were corpses everywhere in the corridors, torn to shreds with a violence and force she had only ever seen in rabbid beasts or Scourge members themselves. Blood plastered the walls until well above their heads, and the gore laying on the ground continued until the edge of Jaina's vision, at the beginning of the next room. She could see traces here and there of magic being used, a great deal of frost magic -namely a great chunk of the corridor seemed totaly frozen, blocking their way, Scourge members trapped inside eerily white ice-, and whatever other magic had potentially been in use for this carnage, the blonde mage couldn't identify.

Closing her eyes and letting her senses spread out in the nightmarish spectacle, the only feeling she got was that it was ancient. Ancient and pissed off.

But each and every corpse Jaina could see seemed to be one of the mindless Scourge that were supposed to fill this place.

Whoever or whatever did this had been brutal, quick and overwhelming enough to warrant apparrently the entirety of the security detail going after it.

And losing.

Badly.

She looked over at the Banshee, finding Sylvanas staring at her. For some reason those burning red orbs under purple hood made her bold, and her tone was way lighter than what she was currently feeling when she addressed her impromptu companion. "Well, at least we found our missing Scourge. They became the new tapestry of the hallways."

She was rewarded by an echoing laugh that shoudn't have made her smile nor calm her nerves, and a toothy smirk showing fangs way more pointed than she knew Vereesa's to be. "You'll be the death of me, little mage." The smirk only grew wider at Jaina's wince at her choice of words before she sobered up, looking ahead. "And that continues further in. Curiouser and curiouser, wouldn't you say ?"

  
~~~~

* * *

~~**SaDaBaM**~~

* * *

  
_Fire, ice, red and blue were clashing against one another high in the sky, each meeting of spells or flesh accompagnied by enormous roars from the two mighty beasts battling one another with a force and ferocity rarely seen from the noble and calm beings most considered the Azerothian High Dragons to be._

_But most hadn't been around to see them fight against worthy enough foes. The Dragons had battled the Legion. They had conquered their nesting grounds using their claws and teeth. They had mastered the skies with their magic and wits._

_They had fought against their own in that damned war the Traitor decided to wage on them._

_So yes, when dragons went at it for real against one another -rare though it may be-, it was violent and messy._

_But even the most novice of onlooker would have seen that this particular battle wouldn't last : one of the fighters was cleary inferior in sheer physical prowess, only keeping up with the bigger beast thanks to her incredible control over magic._

_Hildagosa knew it too. She was powerful, incredibly so, but she was not an Aspect. She simply did not have the near bottomless energy the Titans granted her oponent. But that was fine. The point of this whole charade was not winning. That would be meaningless._

_No, the point was for her to put one theory she had thougth of while experimenting on her own flesh some years back. This was why she had goaded this bitch to battle for all those years. Why she never heeded any of Alextrasza's pleas for her to reconsider her path._

_It was all just a big, admittedly foolish, gamble. And if she could put down the red queen a peg or two in the process, well, it was bonus really. Her warhead of a mother would be so proud._

_A particularly vicious claw slice to her side put her mind back on the fight, Hildagosa retaliating instantly with a blast of raw magic point blank on the muzzle of the queen, sending her flying. She was slowing down if she let her mind wander that easily._

_She tried to put more distance between her and Alexstrasza, only for the queen to follow her almost instantly, forcing a close ranged battle advantaging the queen with her obvious upper hand in size. It rapidly devolved into an uncivilized scuffle, kicking and clawing and grappling at one another all the while spining with each other in the skies._

_It was dumb luck that allowed her to land a vicious claw swipe to the queen's pale stomach, sinking them in her flesh and maging red blood flow, pushing the queen under her in direction of the ground. Unfortunately, before she could even push her alfway to the hard frozen soil, the red dragon's fangs sank deeply into the flesh of Hildagosa's left arm, tearing at it mercilessly, forcing her to pull it back sharply, kicking on the queen's stomach with her hind legs to throw herself farther in the skies accompagnied by an atrocious sound of something tearing and cracking._

_She managed her escape, only to stare in dumb horror at her left arm still wriggling in the maw of her oponent, roughly ripped in the middle of the biceps, muscles torn to shreds._

_Her shriek of pain crackled the ice miles below them, putting her remaining hand on her fresh wound to try and slow the flow of blue blood, all the while glaring bloodly murder at the queen that spat her arm to the ground without ceremony before burning closed her stomach wound. The satisfaction of having put a mark on the immaculate red queen did not even register under the waves of agony Hildagosa was feeling._

_The pain made her vaguely wonder if maybe she hadn't been a bit too hasty in her plans, but she quickly shook the idea off. It was the only way to test her experiments that she could think of, and with her mind blurring quicker than she expected with the blood loss and her other wounds, it wasn't now that she would find a better course of action._

_At the very least, even if she was mistaken, she had made absolutely sure that little Kalec would be well cared for._

_Shaking her head to clear it of the clouds invading her mind, she simply froze the gaping wound on what was left of her arm, gritting her teeth at the excruciating pain that shot through the entirety of her left side, and fired the most powerful roar she could at the moment. The red dragon fired her own almost instantly to counter it, and the shockwave sent them both back before they charged one another again._

_This time, it was more of a beating than a real fight. With an arm missing, she had simply no hope of competing physically, so she had to rely too much on her strongest asset yet : her magic._

_But even that was not nearly as focused as it was before. Pain had a way of playing with the mind, and the big red dragon could shrug most of the assaults sent her way with her own magic. And those she couldn't lacked the sheer power they had at the beginning of the fight. A painfull swipe of claws near her right eye and a way too powerful tail strike in her belly sent her well on her way to crash with the frozen lake just below, her consciousness already fading._

_She was, however, not given the chance to fall on her own. The Queen of the Red Dragons chose this moment to unleash a mighty roar of red energy straight at Hildagosa as she fell._

_For a moment, all the beam did was assist her in her interminable fall, until it wasn't._

_Even the Blue Dragon's princess' magic resistance had limits, and the ray of red soon found its way through her, piercing her low on her belly and creating a gaping hole in herself and the surface of the frozen lake Alexstrasza elected as a coffin._   
_She fell through the icy water, not slowing down one bit until she crashed on the bottom of the lake, hard._

_But there was no reaction._

_Darkness had claimed Hildagosa well before the roar of the Red Queen finished echoing in the frozen valley._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks.  
> First and foremost, an apology for the unholy delay : work just went crazy for a bit. Two month, even for someone like me who isn't really a fast writer, is a little bit too long. I'm sorry. ^_^"
> 
> That done, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, here is the second ! 
> 
> Have fun !

Following their mysterious undead-killer's trail was a slow task, Sylvanas Windrunner, Queen of the Forsaken, tought to herself while trudging through a corridor covered in undead gore in the unlikely company of Jaina Proudmoore, ruler of Theramore and Archmage of the Kirin Tor. But it was not by any stretch of the imagination a difficult task, just a slightly concerning one.

It was easy because, frankly, their quary evidently didn't care one bit about being discreet, judging by the way the walls and ground were redecorated with monster guts. For the ex-Ranger-General, following would have been possible even blindfolded.

But it was also concerning. Because their prey's movements seemed, to the Banshee, erratic. Turning at seemingly random, with no obvious direction but transforming otherwise dead ends into perfectly usable passages with the use of brutal force on the walls, as if whoever it was was following some sort of feeling or scent without taking any note of the actual way to get there.

At least the destroyed walls confirmed to Sylvanas and her mage companion for the night that whatever they were following was human-sized, and not much bigger than them. The holes pierced through were barely big enough to allow them to pass side by side.

Which just served to make them both even more confused when they stumbled their way into a room that looked like a horde of rampaging, numerous, and more importantly enormous beasts just battled through.

They were somewhat accustomed to seeing the new undeads' entrails themed wallpaper at the time, since it was at least a good hour after the first corridor they found having been re-decorated. What was new was the astonishing level of destruction of the room.

Walls simply caved in with brute strenght, ground crushed under overwhelming weight and force, even the unusually high ceiling had been destroyed somehow. And always the hordes of Scourge corpses, only in even worse shapes, but still no clue on the identity of the culprit.

Proudmoore actually made her laugh for longer than she had in a long time when she complained to never being able to eat mash potatoes again, when they examined the completely trashed room.

Which was, frankly, another thing of concern to the Banshee : she did not know if it was just the company -however unlikely that was-, but she felt strange since penetrating the Citadel. More at ease than she would have ever thought to be while in the den of her most hated enemy. And the easy jokes that she found herself exchange with the mage, along with the occasional banter, were highly unnusual for the undead she had become.

Physically, she was also kind of strange. She coudn't put a finger on what, but she felt ... something, since entering the place, and this unknown feeling was always on the back of her mind, even as Sylvanas still puzzled as to why only this particular room had seen so much destruction on itself.

Only it wasn't just this room. Only minutes later, they found another one, in the same state. Another unusually big room, with high ceiling and again completely trashed by what she could only describe to herself as gigantic beasts.

But it wasn't just any beasts. By the third room they found in that state, Sylvanas was fairly sure she had actually worked out what the rooms had been in use for and that, judging by the fact that the last room and this one were reached by the intruder via a way they created in otherwise dead ends, these rooms were probably the goals of whoever it was. Or were at the very least related to it.

So, eyeing the strange tunnel seemingly digged high into the icewall that had confused her in the other rooms and that she was now fairly sure was leading to the exterior, she called for Proudmoore to stop.

"I think I know what these rooms were used for." She talked slowly, working her theory in her mind. And the implications. There was no trace of the actual users of these rooms left behind, after all. That could mean any number of things, some really not good.

The mage just looked at her. "And ?"

"And if I am right, this could be a problem."

The human actually rolled her eyes. "Will you just up and say it ?" Then she was crouching down to touch a puddle of what had once been a ghoul. It was still fairly recent, judging by the ensuing grimace.

The Banshee let out a breathless sigh at the fact that the little mage seemingly adapted to her presence so soon and was confortable enough to be impatient with her. This night was all kinds of strange. "Dragons," she said offhandedly. After a startled look from the mage, she corrected herself. "Frost Wyrms." 

A confused frown was the only answer. Marvelous. The undead pointed to the tunnel she had been eyeing earlier, too high in the walls to be reacheable by anything that did not fly, yet way too large to be made for gargoyles or the like. It was obvious in retrospect, and the ex-Ranger-General blamed the strange feeling that wouldn't leave her mind for having needed so much time to figure it out. "These tunnels probably lead to the outside, and this room, like the other two, would have been their, well, resting ground."

The human was upright again, and coming closer now, still looking confused and in thoughts. "But there's no trace of wyrms here. And I didn't see any before..." She looked at Sylvanas in a silent request for confirmation, to which the Queen shook her head. 

"Which is what could become a problem. I only really see three explanations, but none of them make any sense." It was Sylvanas' turn to crouch down, now, checking another corpse and finding that yes, it was really recently made. They were not far. Maybe they could reach their target by the next room. Whatever happened in these rooms had to take time, yes ?

Jaina stopped just next to her before she spoke lightly. "And what are they ?"

"The wyrms were out. They fled. Or the assaillant was so utterly overwhelming that absolutely no trace of them was left." It was very matter of fact, the way she delivered her conclusions as if they made perfect sense all on their own, but it was obvious by the way the young woman was looking down at Sylvanas that she didn't see the problem, so she elaborated without prompt. "There is absolutely no chance Arthas could deploy that many wyrms out now, with his fortress almost under siege, without us having been made aware of it beforehand. On the contrary, reports state that wyrm presence stand at an all-time low recently, for whatever reason." 

Jaina just nodded, still looking unsure, but Sylvanas forged on before giving the mage the time to formulate an objection.

"Undead under the Scourge just do not flee. No matter what." That she was intimately experienced with, and the mage wisely remained silent. "And you can see by looking around that 'absolutely no trace', is not the style of our target," she waved her hand in a circle around her as she stood, encompassing the whole room for emphasis. "At all."

Proudmoore sighed, then, and pinched the corner of her eyes in thoughts before speaking. "So... what ? Our mysterious fellow intruder did what ? Kidnap a few enormous squelettons ?"

She said that with so much sarcasm and exasperation that Sylvanas just had to smirk, letting her eyes shine a bright red under her hood as she faced the mage. "Isn't it becoming funnier and funnier ? And judging by the relative freshness of the new paint in the room," she gestured to the corpse at their feet, "our elusive decorator-slash-kidnapper should be close enough that we could run into them at the next big room they stop at."

The more relaxed smile and little guffaw she earned was immensely satisfiyng to the Banshee and, as she turned around and went out of the room -hearing the human follow almost immediately, she noted-, Sylvanas realised once again that it just wasn't normal, and her somewhat easy smirk disappeared from her face as she narrowed her eyes on the now common desolate scene of the hallways.

She was strange, tonight, and she had absolutely no idea of the reason. Sylvanas Windrunner, as the Banshee Queen, did not joke around so much. Not anymore.

And she certainly did not feel her blood pulsing through her at the sight of a human girl smiling at her, no matter how pretty said girl was.

In fact, she normally didn't feel her blood pulsing at all. Silently, and making sure the mage saw nothing, she checked herself, all the while berating herself for not noticing sooner. And sure enough, her pulse points trumed under her fingers when she touched them. Not a hearthbeat, not quite. But something in her was reacting to something else, and that was an entirely new experience for the elf in her undeath.

It was not unpleasant, exactly, but the fact that she had no idea of the reasons behind the change was enough to cloud her thoughts until they were interrupted by a lilting, feminine voice coming out of another gaping hole in a wall.

"I know. Yours were the last ones I was able to take away from that infernal place. I want you to go to the others and take command." Sylvanas instantly unhooked her bow from her back and fetched an arrow out of her quiver, pressing her back against the wall. She was pleased to see the human following her lead before the voice came back. "Yes, I shall join later. Fly around a bit to pass time while you lot regenerate. There are still some things I would like to see here."

They were slowly making their way to the hole, Sylvanas making sure to stay the most silent possible, and the mage making a respectable effort of it too. But it seemed to have been for nothing as the voice came one last time before they were able to take a peek in the room.

"Depart immediately. I have guests, it seems." A sound of gigantic wings flapping followed at once, accompanied by a guttural, resonating chuckle. 

Sylvanas swore in Thalassian, Jaina in common, and the both of them bolted through the hole and into the room just in time to see what had to have been an enormous Frost Wyrm take flight and disappear through a tunnel, leaving one single person in the middle of the room, rotating on one bare feet with exagerated and somewhat clumsy movements so as to face them, making a way too long mane of white hair flow behind her with the move along with, if the Banshee was not mistaken in her quick observation, some sort of scaly tail.

And then the being fixed them with wide, unblinking, glowing blue eyes on black sclerae.

"Good evening."

* * *

~~**SaDaBaM** ~~

* * *

Strange beings, were the first words that flowed through Hildagosa's mind when she saw the two women stop awkwardly in front of her at her greeting, the blond one with little ears staring wide eyed at Otogos' retreating form. The dragoness inclined her head on one side, her movements still a little awkward so soon after waking from so long a rest and so much change -doubly so in her now fucked up alternative form-, and focused her attention on the other one.

This one, she recognized a little. Alexstrazsa's mortal form was kinda similar looking. The old Nozdormu's one too, except he was a male, and this one was obviously female, she knew that much at least. And quite a lot of Blues had possessed variations of this type of beings as theirs, her mother included.

So yes, the one with long ears coming out of her hood and a bow pointed her way, she was relatively familiar with. Except she never saw a mortal looking like that, even if said mortal was... an undead body ? Or a spirit possessing a body ? 

She couldn't quite tell. It looked almost like what she had just done to her forlorn Blues tonight, except with an unwilling subject. And way less care.

But then again, this whole sordid place was full of bizarre and revolting beings, so she was not suprised overmuch to discover new life forms now.

She had been away for a long time, probably too long, she reminded herself quickly even if she didn't have a precise number of years, so life could have changed quite a lot, especially after the unique continent split into several ones.

She just hoped her magic would allow her words to be understood by these newcomers, if the langages changed. Killing the first (somewhat) living beings she met after returning to this plane would be such a pity, especially if it was just a misunderstanding. 

Since they were not returning her greeting, she chose to check just in case. "Can you understand me ?" She slowly inclined her head on the other side, speaking very slowly and looking at the two women in turn. Her still new tail flicked left and right without her consent, making her long hair sway and emitting clincking sounds each time it hit the metal tip she used to weight it down. 

That seemed to wake the short eared one, who frowned at her before nodding and answering. "Why would we not ?"

Good enough.

* * *

~~**SaDaBaM** ~~

* * *

Jaina had been thrown for a loop all night today. First by an eerily empty Icecrown Citadel, then by a Banshee Queen much more talkative and, dare she think it, companionable than she ever imagined and finally by the existence of an improbable third intruder that chose the exact same night as Jaina and Sylvanas to come intro Arthas's fortress to use his underlings for some night exercises.

The third one explained the first and, as the night progressed and she found herself laughing at the Banshee's jokes and throwing her own to hear her laugh in turn, the Archmage had decided that she would think about what the second might mean later. Much later, and probably with a mix of an excited Kinndy and a drunk Pained mocking her.

And now, Sylvanas and her had found their illusive fellow intruder and as Jaina redirected her attention from the now absent dragon -a dragon !- to the girl in front of them, Jaina couldn't help but realise that it was not at all what she had imagined the undead-killer to look like, after seeing the desolation left in her way.

The girl -because whatever kind of being this was, the appearence was that of a woman even younger than Jaina, it was evident- facing them was a little smaller than Sylvanas should be withtout heels and barely clothed. No shoes, the only thing covering the deeply olive skin being a visibly aged purple sleeveless robe stopping just under the knees, bandages covering the entirety of her left arm -from the shoulder to her fingertips- and patches of a lighter color, appearing more scaly than anything else, were visible on various places instead of the exposed skin. From what the human could see, the wrist, ankles and parts of the tops of the being's feet and hand seemed to be covered in pale scales, along with a bit of the collabone and neck. Her face was not exactly mundane either, sporting soft features betrayed by the same scaly patches on parts of the cheeks and under unblinking eyes wose colors Jaina honestly never saw before. Were ears should have been on a normal being was what the human could only describe as whitish horns sprouting from the side of the head and continuing back- and downward for at least five inches, decorated with silvery baubles the mage could feel were emitting some kind of power from meters away. The stranger also sported, loose behind her, the longest hair the Archmage had ever seen. Completely and unnaturally pure white, she was fairly sure that, if not for the fact that it appeared tied in a tight braid from the knee down, it would drag on the ground. As it was, the sharp-looking silvery object used to tie the end of the braid -and probably weight it down- was hanging less than a feet from the gore-covered floor, swaying left and right under the assault of a tail Jaina had only had glimpses of so far.

No, it was not at all what she had expected the mysterious third intruder to look like.

But then again, nothing ever went the way she had expected, didn't it ? It was just the way Jaina's life went.


End file.
